


Nice Dragons Finish Last

by deepwoundsandfadedscars



Category: The Heartstrikers Series - Rachel Aaron, The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Gen, Heartstriker AU, Joe is a mage, Nicky is a dragon sealed in human form
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:42:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26977546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deepwoundsandfadedscars/pseuds/deepwoundsandfadedscars
Summary: “I’m open to ideas if you have any, Nicky. I can only hold this for another minute, tops.”Nicky scrubbed his hands over his face. He did have an idea actually. He didn’t plan on Joe finding out like this, hell he didn’t think he wanted Joe to know at all, but if either of them were to live another day, what choice did he have?“Use me,” Nicky said, extending his hand to Joe.Joe flinched back, shaking his head. “No way! Draining another humans soul for magic is blood magic, that will taint my magic forever!”Nicky shook his head, extending his hand even further, insisting. “No. Trust me, it won’t be blood magic. Not with me.”
Comments: 12
Kudos: 77





	Nice Dragons Finish Last

**Author's Note:**

> This story is heavily inspired by the Heartstrikers series, this scene is not verbatim but is a situation that happens in the first book and I rewrote it in my own style.
> 
> ~~the title isn’t supposed to be innuendo that’s what the first Heartstriker book is called~~

A month ago Nicky would’ve laughed at anyone who told him he’d find himself in this situation. Him? The youngest of his family, the runt, the odd one out, hiding in the basement of an abandoned house on the outskirts of the LFZ? The house that was about to be razed by a human mage that desperately wanted whatever Nicky’s new- what would he even call him? Friend? Acquaintance? Pain in his ass? The young(er than the one outside) human mage, Joe, who was currently putting all he had into the wards protecting them in the corner of the basement? Yeah right. He’s very happy hanging out in his room, tinkering with computers and playing video games, thank you very much.

Or he was. And then shit hit the fan, the head of his family clan sealed him, and promptly evicted him from the mountain. So now he finds himself here, stuck in a much weaker form than is entirely useful, even if he weren’t in the LFZ, where his normal form is prohibited, he couldn’t do shit. So he was stuck relying on a human mage, who from what Nicky had seen so far, was very good at what he does, but he only had so much to work with.

Several of Joe’s rings and bracelets glowed, the intricate spells carved into each of them glimmering in the dark basement. The ward was weakening, Joe’s reserve of magic that he stored in his jewelry was getting low and here on the outskirts of the LFZ, the natural magic of the world was weak, he couldn’t draw more from their surroundings to replenish.

Another bracelet dimmed and faded, the ward getting smaller and Joe cursed under his breath.

“I’m open to ideas if you have any, Nicky. I can only hold this for another minute, tops.” 

Nicky scrubbed his hands over his face. He did have an idea actually. He didn’t plan on Joe finding out like this, hell he didn’t think he wanted Joe to know _at all_ , but if either of them were to live another day, what choice did he have?

“Use me,” Nicky said, extending his hand to Joe.

Joe flinched back, shaking his head. “No way! Draining another humans soul for magic is blood magic, that will taint my magic forever!”

Nicky shook his head, extending his hand even further, insisting. “No. Trust me, it won’t be blood magic. Not with me.” His face hardened, hoping his sincerity would come across to Joe.

Joe was wary, eyeing him closely. But then his last bracelet flickered out and the wards dropped and in the same instant he grasped Nicky’s hand. Nicky smirked, squeezing Joe’s hand tight before he opened the dam and let his magic pour through their connection. 

Joe nearly yanked his hand back as the magic flowed into him, it was hot and there was _so much_ of it, and it just kept coming, it was overwhelming just how much of it there was but suddenly Joe was _beaming_ , his face split in a huge grin and his eyes had a mischievous look to them and Nicky almost doubted if this was even a good idea.

“You’re not human,” Joe said, his voice incredulous.

“I’m not a lot of things, dead is one of them and I’d like to keep it that way if you don’t mind.”

Joe threw his head back and laughed, giddy both from the power and what he had just learned about Nicky.

The wards shot up and Joe pulled Nicky to his feet. Nicky staggered for a moment, not used to the sensation of having someone else inside his magic. Joe had clearly never had this sort of connection before either and Nicky could feel a brush of his emotions and thoughts just on the edge of his mind as they moved towards the door leading out of the basement. Someone with practice could clamp down on that, so the only transference was purely magic, but as it was Nicky actually enjoyed feeling him there. 

“Ready?” Joe asked, looking Nicky in the eye.

“Do your worst.”

Nicky nearly fell to his knees as Joe yanked on the magic, his vision warping for a moment as Joe blasted through the wall of the basement, exposing them to the outside in an instant. As the dust settled around them, the soldiers outside started coughing and yelling in confusion and Joe was walking forward, pulling Nicky along behind him. He glowed with power, almost blinding to look at and growing brighter every second as more and more power flowed into him. Nicky stumbled, but stayed with him as he climbed the exterior stairs out of the crumbled basement. The rolling script of the bracelet that contained his modified microwave spell flashed as he released it, blasting the soldiers that had surrounded the house. They didn’t stand a chance, caught off guard as they were by the explosion and shocked at Joe’s appearance as he burned as bright as the sun. The guards were thrown back before they could even get a proper hold on their weapons, some tossed over the hedges and into neighboring yards by the blasts, some slamming into their armoured vans they had parked haphazardly in the yard, collapsing and not getting up again. A horrible smell filled the air as the spell cooked the soldiers from the inside out. Joe picked them off easily, but there were still so many and some hid behind vehicles, firing pot shots at the duo when they could. Nicky could feel his vision narrowing, he could feel every twist and turn his magic took, from deep in his chest, down through his arms and into Joe and then through every swoop of the ruins on Joe’s jewelry, his stomach turning like he was riding a rollercoaster along the same route. 

The air crackled with energy and Nicky couldn’t tell if that was actual thunder he heard or if it was his own pulse roaring in his ears. He felt Joe yank on the magic again and Nicky slammed his eyes shut as it ripped through them both and blasted outwards, throwing any remaining soldiers away from them, scorching the dead grass in the yard to black and leaving only the two of them and one other standing. 

The other mage. He held one of his power reserves in his hand, the silver stitching of ruins on his hands glowing as he prepared a spell. He kept nervously looking up at Joe, and back at his gloves, muttering under his breath as he struggled with the spell. 

Joe took another huge pull from Nicky’s power, who finally fell to his knees, barely keeping a hold of Joe as he felt like he might pass out. Joe released the power directly at the other mage, the power visibly screaming through the air, blue and electric, snapping down on the mage like the jaws of a dragon. The mage screamed as he was thrown back, clutching his hands to his chest as though they were broken, his fingers splayed in a way they shouldn’t be able to.

Nicky could feel Joe on the edge of his mind, he could feel his relief that the danger was passed and that he was now just marveling at the power within himself, looking at how his hands glowed with it, and the thought of tracking down any survivors was flickering, but Nicky was so drained, he didn’t think he could handle much more of this so he clamped down on the connection, leaving the magic that Joe had pushed into his jewelry reserves, but pulling everything else back. 

Joe snatched his hand away from Nicky, as though the loss of magic hurt just as much as the first initial outpour had been, and without his support, Nicky collapsed to the scorched earth, his eyes rolling back in his head. 

“Nicky!” Joe yelled, dropping to his knees. 

Nicky could feel warm hands on either side of his face, gentle rubbing of thumbs across cheek bones turning to frantically jostling his head in an attempt to wake him up. All he could manage was a groan as Joe put an arm under his neck and pulled him partially upright so Nicky was leaning against his chest.

“Hey, come on man,” Joe sounded frantic, “Stay with me, I’m sorry, i didn’t mean to take so much, come on, wake up!”

Nicky groaned again, but managed to open his eyes and raise an arm up to pull Joe’s hand away so he wasn’t tapping his face so much.

“I’m awake, I’ll be alright.” He said before closing his eyes again, leaning heavily on Joe.

Joe sighed in relief, wrapping his arms tightly around Nicky so his head was tucked under Joe’s chin. His hands rubbed circles on Nicky’s back absentmindedly as he looked around at the destruction. Nicky could feel as a chuckle bubbled up through Joe’s chest, a nervous and incredulous laugh.

“So when were you going to tell me you were a goddamn dragon?”


End file.
